


Blood in the Water

by MYuzuki



Series: NRPS Autumn Spookfest 2019 [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: (Spoiler alert: it's Danzo), Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Eye Trauma, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, References to mind control/brainwashing (because Kotoamatsukami), again because Shisui, because Shisui, references to maiming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-16 15:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20850269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: Shisui didn't see Danzō coming, never anticipated the betrayal. Battered and weary with one eye missing, he can't think of a way out.Luckily for him (and unluckily for Danzō), no one anticipated Kakashi's interference, either.(Written for the Autumn Spook Fest 2019 event hosted by @naruto-rare-pair-support, for the prompt Blood in the Water.)





	Blood in the Water

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first thing I've ever written for an official Naruto rare-pair event and it did not go at all according to plan, lol. It was originally going to be a short little drabble for the Blood in the Water prompt, where Kakashi somehow rescues Shisui after he pitches himself into the Nakano (after being attacked by Danzō and all that jazz) but then my brain did that thing where it says "but what if this happened instead" and before I knew it the whole thing went off the rails and morphed into a five page quasi-fix-it. So. Yeah. Enjoy!
> 
> *Also, Shisui is now eighteen instead of 16. Why, you ask? Because I felt like it, lol. ;D (Just kidding, I do have actual reasons, but I won't bore anyone with them here.)

**Blood in the Water**

* * *

He's been injured before, sometimes almost fatally, but the loss of his right eye is something else entirely, something he doesn't have a frame of reference for.

And it's not just the physical pain of it, although that's hardly something to be discounted; it's a sharp red-hot agony that's alternating between stabbing pains and a deep piercing ache and none of that pain is anything compared to the blindness.

(And even the blindness isn't anything compared to the sense of betrayal, but he's trying hard to avoid thinking about that right now. Because if he thinks about it too hard about he's going to lose the tenuous hold he has on himself.)

He's a shinobi, and a critical injury -even a crippling one- is hardly an unheard of occurrence, but it's one thing to know in an abstract way that you could be irreparably damaged and another thing entirely to _have your eye ripped out by a respected village elder_.

He's been spying on his clan for the Sandaime for what feels like a small eternity now, juggling his different responsibilities and secrets and trying desperately to keep it all together for the greater good, and for all that watching and spying he somehow never saw Danzō coming.

(He's never liked the man, but he hadn't expected _this_.)

Thankfully, he'd managed to get away before Danzō could take his remaining eye, but even so he's…pretty much out of moves, at this point. He's missing an eye, has an assortment of other injuries from Danzō's ambush, and is rapidly approaching severe chakra exhaustion; his options for how to proceed are pretty much nonexistent.

He could go to the Hokage, he supposes, but even as he considers that option he dismisses it, because Sarutobi won't believe his word over Danzō's. The two men may not agree about everything, but they've known each other all their lives; if he bursts into the Sandaime's office accusing Sarutobi's former teammate of being a manipulative traitor, the only person who's going to leave that room in chains is _Shisui_.

(The only way Sarutobi will believe the truth about Danzō's crimes is if Danzō himself makes a confession. Considering that such an occurrence is about as likely as Shisui being named the next Clan Head, he's not holding out a lot of hope for it to happen.)

And he certainly can't go to his clan for help; something like this is the match that will light the powder keg of a rebellion that Fugaku's been planning. And Shisui hasn't been struggling to thwart that uprising from the shadows for so long only to be the trigger himself. So no, he can't go to the clan leaders.

But maybe…maybe not _everyone_ in the clan is off limits. If he can just get a message to the right person…to the only person he has left who he can trust completely, someone he _knows_ will listen to him no matter how crazy his story sounds…

He uses the blood spilling down his cheek to activate the summoning tattoo on his left wrist, calling up one of the crow summons he uses to carry messages.

"Take this to Itachi," he tells Hitomi, hastily scribbling out a location to meet and trying not to scream in frustration because he can barely even _see_ to write the letter and his hand is shaking and he can feel himself running out of time; he needs to tell someone what's been going on, and he needs to do it before Danzō catches up to him. "Make sure he reads it. Make sure he comes."

Hitomi gives him a beady-eyed stare, clearly not thrilled with the idea of leaving her summoner alone and badly wounded on the edge of a tall cliff, but she takes flight nevertheless, shooting up into the night sky and vanishing into the gloom with a warbled croak.

Shisui tries to track her flight path, but his newly empty eye socket is starting to hurt again, deep pulses of pain that go lancing through his skull as what's left of his vision swims, tears of pain making everything blurry.

_I suppose this is what dying feels like_, he thinks vaguely. Because he's had close calls before, but never like _this_.

He's never been one to fear death, and even now it still doesn't frighten him. Everything and everyone has a time to die and that's something he's known and accepted ever since his father started deteriorating before his very eyes, but it's infuriating that Shisui's time should be _now_, when there's so much left for him to do.

The only consolation he has is that the pain will stop once he's dead; after all, the agonizing spikes of pain where his eye used to be won't matter much once he's past the point of feeling anything.

And there's also a small measure of comfort in the knowledge that soon Itachi will be here, and Shisui can pass on his proverbial torch. Because Itachi's still young, just barely thirteen to Shisui's eighteen, but he's got raw talent and plenty of potential. Yes, Shisui can pass his wishes on to Itachi.

(And also pass on his remaining eye, because he absolutely refuses to let Danzō have it, but that's neither here nor there really.)

In fact, he's so confident in his plan to confide in Itachi that he's entirely thrown for a loop when Itachi does finally arrive.

Because his younger friend doesn't arrive alone.

Because Itachi has Kakashi with him, his silver-white hair almost gleaming in the moonlight.

"What," is all he can manage to say, his voice noticeably bewildered even to his own ears because _what is happening, why is Kakashi here, this is not the plan_, and before he can scrape together any sort of coherent demand for an explanation Itachi is rushing forward, expression twisting in concern.

"Shisui, what happened?" Itachi asks, voice tight with worry as he comes closer, then in a sharper tone once he's close enough to actually see the damage that's been done, "Shisui, _your eye-_"

"It's been a long night," Shisui tells him, aiming for nonchalant and missing by about a hundred miles because it's late, and he's tired and hurting and _just wants it to stop_. "Itachi, why…" _Why is Kakashi here?_ he wants to ask, but his throat is tight and he can't force the words out past the lump in his throat.

Of course, because Itachi knows him so well he understands what Shisui's trying to ask. "Your message was…unusual," he says, and while his tone is flat on the surface there's an edge of something underneath, some sort of strong emotion buried deep. "I asked Hitomi what kind of condition you were in when you wrote it," he goes on, "but all she told me was that you needed help right away." He shakes his head, dark hair falling to obscure his face. "I almost came straight to you, but I bumped into Kakashi-senpai on my way, and…"

"And I invited myself along," Kakashi interjects, and while his voice is bright and overly cheerful Shisui can't see even a hint of true amusement in his visible eye; his expression, at least the part that Shisui can see above that ever-present mask across his lower face, is dead serious.

"Why?" Shisui asks, and doesn't bother to hide the suspicion in his tone. He's never had cause to suspect Kakashi of duplicitous behavior before (had in fact always been secretly fond of the other man because Shisui has a weakness for pretty faces on dangerous people) and before tonight Shisui would have classified him as something between an acquaintance and a friend.

Of course, before tonight Shisui would have classified Danzō as a stern but trustworthy elder, so clearly his judgment is suspect; in light of Danzō's attempt on his life (and the accompanying attempt to _take his eyes_, which Shisui finds horrifying on many levels) Shisui can't help but look for ulterior motives and hidden agendas.

"Itachi seemed…distressed," Kakashi says, his tone carefully neutral. "And seeing as I've never seen him that worried even when our ANBU squad was deployed deep into enemy territory, my curiosity was piqued as to what could have him so worked up." He tilts his head in a manner that reminds Shisui of the dog summons he's seen the other man call up for tracking. "Imagine my surprise when he showed me your note."

Shisui tenses on instinct, because while he hadn't put any seriously sensitive information into that note he had dropped just enough hints to get himself into trouble if the wrong person sees it.

(He's desperately hoping that Kakashi's not such a person.)

"I was particularly intrigued by the part about avoiding Danzō," Kakashi goes on, his gaze not wavering from Shisui's. "Tell me, Shisui, why would you ask Itachi to stay away from one of Konoha's respected elders?"

Shisui's anxiety ratchets up another notch and it's tempting (_so_ tempting) to use the last dregs of his chakra to just grab Itachi and use a shunshin to get away because he _wants_ to trust Kakashi, he _really_ does, but trust isn't something that's coming easily to him at the moment.

And Danzō's influence is so widespread throughout the village; what if he's already gotten his hooks into Kakashi somehow?

But then someone else appears on the scene, arriving in a flutter of leaves, and looking at him reminds Shisui that he's not the only person Danzō has tried to use and destroy for the sake of his unfathomable plans.

"I followed him back to one of his old research labs," Tenzō tells Kakashi, something dark in his voice. "He has a Root squad with him for protection, but it doesn't look like he's planning to go anywhere else at the moment."

"We should have a bit of time, then," Kakashi concludes before turning back to Shisui. "So, want to tell us what happened?"

Tenzō doesn't say anything else, but he's watching Shisui with dark eyes that seem to see straight through him, as if he already knows everything Shisui has yet to say.

Tenzō had been someone else before he'd joined ANBU, Shisui recalls suddenly, and while he's never gotten the full story he's not an idiot. Tenzō has mokuton but isn't a Senju, and there had been whispers of Orochimaru conducting experiments with the Shodaime's cells at someone else's behest before the Snake Sannin had been discovered and driven out of the village.

Combine that with Tenzō's seemingly insider knowledge of Root and Shisui's willing to bet what little money he has that Danzō is behind that particular tragedy as well.

And Kakashi is close to Tenzō, Shisui knows. Itachi has told him as much, an he's seen it for himself whenever he's been tasked to work with their ANBU squad on missions. They've been on the same ANBU team ever since Tenzō had first joined ANBU, and had seemed know each other from before that point. So it's a long friendship, and a strong one.

And Kakashi is protective of his friends. Unsurprising, given how very few of them he has left alive at this point, but it's something to consider because if Tenzō really had been in Root and gotten out, then he and Kakashi are going to despise Danzō just as much as Shisui does, if not more.

Maybe, just maybe, Shisui can trust them to be on his side in this.

(It's a risk he's going to have to take, he realizes, because his only other option is to just give up and die. And while he doesn't fear death, he hasn't come this far just to quit. And maybe it's just the spite talking, but his death would be a victory for Danzō, and he can't stand to let that bastard _win_.)

"This was Danzō's doing," Shisui admits, lifting a hand to indicate the space where his right eye had been just an hour previously. Technically the other wounds he's picked up over the course of today can be laid at Danzō's doorstep as well, for all that his little Root death squad had been the ones dishing out the hurt, but the most grievous wound is indisputably the eye.

(His fingers are trembling ever so slightly, but if Kakashi and Tenzō notice they're kind enough not to comment on it.)

Itachi's grip on him tightens, his normally calm expression edged with the sort of protective fierceness that usually only surfaces when Sasuke is being bullied or threatened in some way. "He wanted your eyes," his friend says, and it's not a question.

"Yes," Shisui replies, dragging a bloody hand through his hair, "but there's more to it than that." So much more, in fact, that Shisui doesn't even really know where to begin explaining the series of events that ended with him bloodied and battered on a cliff above the Nakano.

Something must show on his face, because Kakashi gives a thoughtful hum. "Why don't you start at the beginning," he suggests, tone deceptively mild. "If Tenzō 's right, Danzō won't resurface for a little while yet; we have time for you to fill us in."

So Shisui does. "The Uchiha are planning an uprising," he says, and it all spills out from there. He talks about how his clansmen had approached him not long after his father's death, trying to capitalize on his grief and sway him to their cause. He talks about how they'd asked him to use his friendship with Itachi to gain access to ANBU intelligence they could utilize (which he'd never done, because he values Itachi's trust in him too much to take advantage of it like that), and about how he'd finally gone to the Hokage to warn him about the unrest in the Uchiha compound.

He tells them about volunteering to spy on his own clan for the Sandaime, because even then he'd known that an Uchiha rebellion could only end in bloodshed and tragedy for everyone.

He goes to tell them about Sarutobi's plan for quelling the uprising, but hesitates, trying to think of what to say; he's not thrilled that he'll have to give away the secret of his Mangekyō Sharingan in order to fully explain, but consoles himself with the knowledge that 1) Itachi already knows about Kotoamatsukami and 2) it's something that Kakashi and Tenzō need to know about it if he wants them to fully grasp the scope of the situation.

"You were going to use it on Fugaku," Kakashi infers once he's given them a bare-bones rundown of what Shisui's Mangekyō is capable of and what Sarutobi wanted him to accomplish with it.

"He's the primary leader of the rebellion," Shisui says by way of explanation, casting an apologetic look at Itachi. "With Kotoamatsukami, I would have been able to convince him to give up on the rebellion without needing to resort to violence, and he in turn would have gotten our elders to lay off as well. And the compulsion would hold up indefinitely, so that would have been the end of it. At least until someone else stirred things up in the compound," he adds absently.

"And he would probably never even know that it wasn't his own idea," Kakashi remarks brightly. "That's quite the terrifying ability you have. Practically mind-control."

"It's not mind-control," Shisui counters, irritated. "Kotoamatsukami doesn't make someone my puppet; I can't control all their actions. It's just a genjustu that allows me to plant a suggestion or an order into someone's mind and make them adhere to it."

"So, brainwashing rather than mind-control," Kakashi says dryly. "Good to know."

Shisui huffs out an annoyed breath, but doesn't bother debating it any further.

(Honestly, he's more than a little relieved that Kakashi's main reaction to the reveal of his Mangekyō is to argue semantics; he knows that most shinobi would see his ability as a potential threat and nothing more.)

Itachi, meanwhile, seems to be mentally stuck on Shisui's struggle of spying on the clan for Sarutobi. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" he asks. "Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"

(He doesn't come out and say _why didn't you trust me?_ but Shisui can hear the words regardless.)

"It's not that I didn't trust you with the truth," he says, giving a helpless shrug and trying to ignore the pinpricks of pain the movements causes. "I was jut trying to protect you," he adds, because he was. Shisui's an only child, but he's always felt that his friendship with Itachi was pretty damn close to what having a brother might be like. "Itachi," he goes on, determined to explain because his friend has that faintly mulish look on his face that usually leads to trouble and Shisui _needs_ him to understand, "no matter how often you disagree with him or how much you dislike him as a person, Fugaku is still your father. And I didn't want to put you in a position where you would have to choose between your family and your duty as a shinobi; that's not a burden you should have on your shoulders."

"So you just shouldered the burden yourself instead," Itachi murmurs, and there's almost something chiding in his tone, but all Shisui can do is give another shrug.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," he says, and he tries to make it sound light and carefree but instead it just comes out tired. "Anyway, using Kotoamatsukami _was_ the plan for how to deal with the uprising. But Danzō, in his _eminent wisdom_," he continues, the words coming out jagged and sharp enough to cut, "decided that the Sandaime was wrong. He ambushed me, trying to kill me and take my eyes so I wouldn't be able to follow through with my mission. I managed to get away and sent a message to Itachi and…here we are." He waves a hand vaguely to indicate their current situation. "I don't know what Danzō's game is, but he's going to send someone to finish me off sooner rather than later.."

Which brings him back to _his_ shiny new backup plan, which he'd hastily cobbled together after fleeing from Danzō's attack. "I'm a dead man no matter how this turns out," he says now, cutting off Itachi when his friend goes to protest. "I'm a loose end Danzō can't afford to ignore, plus he'll want my other eye for…whatever the fuck he wants it for." To brainwash someone himself, Shisui presumes, although it's entirely possible that Danzō wants the power of Kotoamatsukami simply because he's a power-hungry asshole. Either way, Shisui doesn't have a lot of options if he want to keep his Mangekyō out of Danzō's hands. "Itachi, I'm giving you my eye, and the contracts for some of my crow summons. Keep it for if you ever need its power, but destroy it if you have to. Don't let Danzō get his hands on it, okay? The one eye he's stolen is already more power than he should have."

Itachi stares at him with wide eyes, going pale. "Shisui, what are you talking about? I can't take your eye, that's ridiculous-"

"Itachi, listen to me, we don't have a lot of time. You need to-"

"I'm inclined to agree with Itachi," Kakashi says, interjecting himself into their argument with no apparent shame whatsoever. "It's absolutely absurd for you to give him your eye; you're going to need it, after all."

Shisui stares at him, thoroughly bewildered. "Need it for _what_?" he demands, because there's only one way path for him to take at this point, and it's not one where he needs his remaining eye; rather, it's one that will see him at the bottom of the river in very short order, so that he won't have to constantly live on edge, waiting for Danzō's next attempt on his life.

(It might also be a form of atonement, though he's hardly going to admit to that.

Because it's been wearing on him, spying on his clan, even in the name of the greater good. And being asked to use Kotoamatsukami on his Clan Head, _agreeing_ to do it…that had been another burden in and of itself, really.

Logically, he knew that there had been no _good_ choice for him to make, just a choice between lesser evils, and given that he's a shinobi it hadn't been a _surprise_ precisely…but it had still hurt to make that choice, and he still feels guilty about agreeing to Sarutobi's plan so easily.

Even now, knowing that he can't follow through on his mission to compel Fugaku into stopping the uprising, he till feels remorse for the fact that he _would have done it_. To protect his mother, to protect Itachi, to protect Sasuke…to protect all of his clansmen and the rest of Konoha, he would have done it in a heartbeat.

He would have regretted the necessity of it, but it wouldn't have _stopped_ him.)

"Need it for setting things right, of course," Kakashi answers readily, as if it's obvious. "Between the four of us, I think we should be able to work out a way to remove Danzō from the picture _and_ stop the uprising."

Shisui contemplates throwing himself off the cliff just to get away from the apparent stupidity, because _really now_. "The _Sandaime himself_ couldn't think of a way to quell the Uchiha rebellion besides using Kotoamatsukami," he reminds Kakashi pointedly. "As for Danzō, he has Root at his disposal for his protection plus the trust of Sarutobi and the other elders. He's almost untouchable."

"The key word there being 'almost'," Kakashi counters with a faint smirk. "And all due respect to the Sandaime, but it sounds to me like he didn't try very hard to find alternative solutions to the Uchiha problem. I mean, did he ever consider actually talking to Fugaku about anything? At least to find out what the specific grievances are?"

Shisui opens his mouth to retort that of course he did, it would be stupid not to then falters because… "I don't think he did," he realizes. "He mentioned a few times that he _wanted_ to, but…I honestly don't know if he ever followed through."

"Even if the Hokage offered to listen to the complaints," Itachi interjects, "my father might not have taken him up on the offer for a meeting. He's…a very stubborn man."

An understatement, Shisui thinks with a wry smile. Fugaku is only slightly less movable than a mountain range once he's made up his mind on something, and Shisui has to concede that it's within the realm of reason for Fugaku to have refused a meeting to discuss the situations.

"Regardless of who specifically is at fault," Kakashi continues, "there is absolutely no reason a compromise couldn't be worked out if only they decided to talk things out like adults instead of falling back on over-dramatic extreme measures. Of course, it's a bit too late for that now. Good thing I've come up with a plan!"

Shisui tactfully decides to not point out that Kakashi is hardly one to issue judgment on dramatics, given his penchant for flashy jutsu, and instead heaves a sigh. "What's _your_ plan, then?" he demands, crossing his arms and trying to keep from swaying on his feet too much.

"Well," Kakashi begins, "it goes something like this…"

Ten minutes later, Shisui is firmly of the opinion that Kakashi is utterly _insane_. Honestly, how he could have ever been attracted to this idiot is a mystery.

(Why he _still_ finds him attractive even now is an ever greater mystery that he's determined not to think about, at least not until this whole mess is over.)

Luckily, Kakashi's plan is just crazy enough to actually work, provided they all play their parts well enough.

It starts with Tenzō taking Itachi home to the compound; Itachi argues, of course, because he doesn't want to leave Shisui (unsurprising, since Shisui is still missing an eye and bleeding all over the place), but when Shisui reminds him that Sasuke's going to need someone to keep him out of the line of fire while Fugaku is being dealt with, Itachi finally caves and leaves with Tenzō .

Shisui is actually a bit envious of the two younger shinobi; all things considered, they have the easier part of the job: keeping Fugaku contained until Kakashi and Shisui finish up their end of things.

Their end of things, meanwhile, is considerably more fraught with peril: confront Danzō, whammy him with Kotoamatsukami, and send him to Sarutobi to confess his crimes.

(Shisui fully intends to layer another compulsion under that one if the opportunity presents itself, because he knows the Sandaime; Sarutobi is big on forgiveness, even if that forgiveness isn't deserved. And Sarutobi will forgive Danzō, just as he always has before. And maybe Shisui shouldn't care about that as much as he does, but he can't seem to help it.

The threat of impending war between the Uchiha and the rest of the village will be averted once Danzō's no longer manipulating the situation and Fugaku is 'persuaded' to resolve things peacefully, and perhaps that should be victory enough, _but_…

But Shisui _absolutely cannot stand_ the thought that Danzō might get little more than a proverbial slap on the wrist for what he's done. Can't stand the thought of Danzō being allowed to live, when he's destroyed so many lives in the pursuit of his twisted vision of a prosperous village.

So Shisui's going to take advantage of the power his Mangekyō gives him, and remove the threat entirely.

And if he's still alive when the dust settles, if by some miracle Kakashi's _utterly insane_ plan actually succeeds and they're all still in one piece afterwards…well, he might just kiss the other man

full on the mouth and to hell with the consequences_._)

* * *

**[ONE WEEK LATER]**

"I still can't believe the old man killed himself," Asuma mutters, exhaling a puff of cigarette smoke as they sit in the shade of a tree on the edge of the training grounds.

"The shame must have been too much for him," Kurenai offers, glancing up from the scroll she's reading. "To have the Sandaime denounce his actions so thoroughly, and then to be removed from his position as head of ANBU on top of it…it must have just been too much. The circumstances _are_ a bit strange, though," she adds thoughtfully. "It was all very sudden. To confess to crimes against the village, and then just kill himself? It's a bit…odd."

Asuma grunts in acknowledgement, and lets his gaze drift for a moment, until it lands on the others in their group. "You two are suspiciously quiet over there," he observes. "No commentary from the peanut gallery today?"

Kakashi doesn't even deign to look up from his ridiculous book, his free hand carding absently through Shisui's hair while the other man lounges with his head in Kakashi's lap. "I don't understand why we're even still talking about any of this," he replies, tone indifferent. "So Danzō was a cruel and conniving bastard who walked off a cliff into the river. End of story, and good riddance."

Shisui doesn't say anything, just gives a vague hum of agreement; Asuma suspects that the Uchiha is either very good at faking a catnap or is genuinely dozing off.

"But doesn't it strike you as just a little bit strange?" Kurenai presses. "Danzō never struck me as particularly suicidal. I know he must have been under a lot of pressure once word of his crimes and demotion got out, but even so…"

"Who can say," Kakashi says lightly. "Sometimes people just crack under the pressure," he adds, and Asuma belatedly remembers that Kakashi's father is someone else who turned out to be suicidal; this particular topic of conversation is probably more than a little uncomfortable for him, and yet Kakashi isn't displaying any of the usual signs of emotional avoidance that he normally does when such topics come up.

If anything, when it comes to the matter of Danzō's death, Kakashi seems to be a peculiar mixture of indifferent and _pleased_, which Asuma just can't figure out.

Then again, Asuma still hasn't gotten the full rundown on Danzō's crimes; his father hasn't wanted to discuss the matter, and Asuma hasn't wanted to press the issue with his father so obviously upset. He supposes it's possible that something Danzō did impacted Kakashi, or someone Kakashi cares about, and what he's seeing now is simply the relief at having a threat removed.

But Asuma finds his gaze drifting back to Shisui, and he _wonders_. Because Shisui was noticeably out of sight for a few days, even as the Uchiha Clan underwent an upheaval in leadership, and when he finally resurfaced he was short an eye and carried himself differently.

Because Shisui and Kakashi have suddenly become inseparable, when before their only interactions were mission-related. Because not only does Kakashi seem happier now, but his friends from ANBU do as well; Tenzō seems more at ease now, and even Itachi is more sociable than before, allowing himself to be dragged into group outings when before he would turn down invitations in favor of additional training.

Because Shisui has, Asuma realizes now, completely neglected to have an opinion on Danzō's death one way or the other ever since it happened. Hasn't spoken about Danzō _at all_, really, not even while every other shinobi in the village either reminisces about his better years or condemns his recent actions.

Asuma decides that he's going to break into his father's office tonight, to see Danzō's written confession for himself. Because he has a feeling that Shisui's name is going to be there, along with the other victims of Danzō's madness.

And if that's the case, well…Asuma can't find it in his heart to be sad that the old bastard is gone. Because Shisui is _good_, in a way few shinobi ever are. Because he cares, and tries to do the best thing for everyone, even when that might result in hurt to himself.

And because Shisui makes Kakashi happy in a way that Asuma has never seen before; possibly in a way Kakashi has never _been_ before, since his life from the age of five has pretty much been a parade of traumatic events up until now.

All things being equal, Asuma realizes that he'd much rather have Danzō's blood in the water of the Nakano than a shinobi like Shisui's.

With that in mind, he tactfully changes the topic to something else. "So, Kakashi," he says, "I heard that Gai challenged you to do fifty hand-stand laps around the village. Something about being your eternal rival?"

Kakashi's long-suffering groan (softened somewhat by the glint of amusement in his eyes) and Shisui's answering laugh are his rewards, and all thoughts of Danzō are forgotten as the conversation devolves into good-natured teasing and bickering.

* * *

("It's been over a week and I still can't believe your stupid plan worked," Shisui tells Kakashi later, when they're finally alone together,sitting on the roof of Kakashi's apartment building and watching the sunset.

"Excuse you," Kakashi retorts, feigning offense, "my plan was _brilliant_."

"It was half-baked _at best_," Shisui insists, but he can't fight the little grin that's quirking up the corners of his mouth. "Thank you," he adds, soft and sincere. "For saving me."

"You saved yourself," Kakashi replies, giving him a lopsided smile. "I just helped."

Shisui rolls his eyes, because Kakashi can deny it all he wants but Shisui knows the truth; Shisui may have been the one to compel Danzō's final actions using his Kotoamatsukami, but it's thanks to Kakashi that he could do it. If not for Kakashi, _Shisui_ would have been the one to walk off that cliff, and he'll never not be grateful to Kakashi for preventing that. "You're an idiot," he informs the other man. "Now shut up and kiss me."

"So demanding," Kakashi complains, but there's no bite to it at all, just affection and fondness, and when he tugs down his mask and leans in Shisui tips his head to meet him halfway.

The kiss is soft and tender, and it feels like a promise.)


End file.
